- Sacramento Kings: Last season, the city of Sacramento and Kings' fan throughout northern California raised enough money and support to keep the Kings in Sacramento for another year. As long as the lockout continues and the doors to ARCO Arena remain locked, the life of the Kings franchise in Sacramento will dwindle toward contraction and dispersal.
- Toronto Raptors: I'm a Raptor fan, and the idea of basketball leaving Toronto scares me to death. Rumour has it there is a bias among ESPN and various sports network in the States toward Toronto franchises, but I can't verify that from here. Without a marketable superstar or reason for American audiences to tune in to watch Raptor games post-Vince Carter, I fear for the future of the Toronto Raptors after the lockout.
Those are my two major victims of NBA contraction should they cancel the 2011-12 season. Here is a small list of teams that could also fall away as the league reduces from 30 largely mediocre NBA teams to a manageable 24 teams.
- New Orleans Hornets: They don't have an owner, so it is a convenient sacrifice. The NBA could send Chris Paul to a large market team to generate more buzz. Get it? Hornets, buzz, Hornets, buzz :) I just saw that :D LOL
- Portland Trail Blazers: A good young team in the cash-strapped Pacific Northwest :( Maybe they can make it work; I hope they do.
- Los Angeles Clippers: I don't like how they are run from an organizational perspective.
- Phoenix Suns: They are my dark horse for relocation/contraction. Glendale is spending a considerable amount of taxpayers' money to keep the Coyotes of the NHL, so who knows how the Suns will manage post-lockout.
